ICW Poffo Universe

May...1978...a Wednesday night...11:45PM approximately. I had wrestled Savage at the Nashville Fairgrounds and while the arena was small it was sold out. Savage was just developing his Macho Man gimmick and the fans in Tennessee were really into it. After the match Savage and Rip Rogers who went by the name of Disco Kid back in those days went to a local Waffle House to eat. If you don't know what a Waffle House is then you've never been down South. It’s a fast food sit down diner type place with quick service and cheap prices. Everybody knew Savage in Nashville as wrestling was the only pro sport in town and Savage was easily recognizable. But not to get ahead of my story.

Savage and Rip were sitting at a booth and to the best of my knowledge Randy was "ripped". Ripped means kind of like high but on what I can only imagine. I mean he wasn't falling down or passing out" high" but recreationally speaking he was having a good time. Time passes. Waffle Houses stay open all night and there were probably about 30 people in the diner at the time.

Then out of nowhere a cowboy with a hat comes through the door and announces in a loud voice to everyone in the place that he has just gotten married. He didn't say this directly to Savage....he just said it to whomever it concerned I suppose. Savage however just couldn't leave it alone. Randy fired back something like "who gives a shit"? The cowboy then said "you'd better give a shit" and Randy said something akin to "well I fuckin' don't" and one word led to another and finally the cowboy came over to Savage's table. Well it doesn't take a Ph.D. in psychology to figure out what's about to happen and it did. The cowboy and Savage start throwing down although most of the punches were missing the mark and they both
finally end up wallowing in front of the juke box when the cowboy feeling that he can't win pulls a knife on Savage.

Savage...thinking quickly...hopped over the table to where the cooks prepare the food and he grabbed a knife too. They both proceed to stand on top of the table tops and swing knives at each other like until Savage notices that he doesn't have a real knife. Savage in his haste has grabbed a butter knife. But fate intervenes on his behalf because by that time. Sirens are heard
outside and somebody yells that the cops are coming. The cowboy realizing that it’s in his best interests to leave vacates the diner.

At this point Savage should have left too but if he had've then I couldn't be telling this story could I? Savage's adrenaline is pumping now. Nashville's finest come into the diner to find Savage in an irritated state. The cops recognized Randy from the matches and asked him to quieten down but
obviously Randy didn't want to or by that time couldn't settle down. Randy wanted to cops to go after the guy that had attacked him and to tell the truth he had a point. By this time the shift supervisor had entered the diner and when he saw what was going on he instructed his officers to handcuff Savage.

Well Savage couldn't allow just ordinary street cops to handcuff the "Macho Man" and the scuffle began. Savage resists having handcuffs place on him. After a couple of tries the handcuffs are still not in place. The cops now go to Phase Two....pepper spray or mace. They sprayed Mace in Randy's direction but Randy ducked and one cop hit the other cop square in the face with the pepper. This was beginning to look more and more like a Charlie Chaplin/Keystone Kops Caper.

Now more cops enter and some of them start swinging police clubs. Still they can't get the cuffs on Savage. One reason the cops were having so much trouble is that the area they were trying to work in was very small and now there was a pretty sizable crowd watching this display of public disobedience. The Waffle House is mostly glass panels so this whole thing could be seen from the street. This was just about to turn into an embarrassing situation for the Nashville Police Department. So in exasperation...the cops pull back...and the shift sergeant calls for the "DOG". So this is what we have here so far. A pro wrestler who has rebuffed 4 or 5 cops...withstood getting handcuffed...avoided getting maced.... taken shots from police clubs...bleeding from the head...and is still standing defiantly. The police sergeant decides Savage is going to be taken down one way or the other. Now if it was me... hell I'd never started the thing in the first place but that's the difference between Savage and me. Thinking back on it now... Savage could have possibly been the first Rodney King had hand held cameras been around in those days.

So the dog comes in...So everybody thinks it’s the end right? Well everybody thought that but Savage. Savage does the unthinkable... he kicks the shit outta the dog. Oops...bad mistake. The officer releases the dog and I've never known too many people who'd have won a fight with a trained police attack dog and this was no different. Of course I've never met too many people who have been attacked by police dogs either so that point evens itself out. But suffice it to say that that one hundred pound German Shepherd literally tore Macho Man a new fuckin' asshole. The stand of civil disobedience ended right then and there. Savage was then handcuffed and taken to jail. His father Angelo Poffo got him out on bail later that night. I didn't see Savage until two days later. He was a mess. He had stitches in his head and I can't remember whether he had stitches where the dog bit him but I do recall about a 10 inch laceration on his leg where the dog latched on to him.

A big article came out in the Nashville Tennesseean that following Saturday morning about the incident and Savage didn't let that go unchallenged either. He called the guy who wrote the article and had he put his side of the story in. The whole thing ended with Savage paying a fine and the whole thing was forgotten by most people. But I bet Savage and that police dog didn't forget it.

And if I know Savage like I think I do. I bet Savage lays awake at night thinking about how to get even with that dog. The next time I see Savage I'm going to ask him if he ever did get back at Lassie. LOL.